According to the Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct. 16), investigators on October 16 searched RBICO’s headquarters, located in Minato Ward, and retrieved six boxes of files and personal computers in an effort to prove fraudulent investment activity within the Nagano Prefecture Construction Industry Welfare Pension Fund.

The move has uncovered yet more losses in the troubled fund.

Earlier this year, AIJ Investment Advisors (AIJ) were revealed to have fabricated investment gains in an attempt to cover heavy losses for clients, one of whom was the same Nagano construction fund, which had entrusted AIJ with more than 30 percent of its pension assets, or approximately 6.5 billion yen.

According to the Nikkei Shimbun (Oct. 17), the value of the Nagano pension fund’s investments as directed by RBICO dropped from 6.8 billion yen to 2.2 billion yen since the inception of their agreement in 2004.

Management services for the Nagano fund’s assets were provided by various other finance-related companies. The FSA on the same day ordered three firms, Societe Generale Private Banking (Japan), Stats Investment Management, and United Investments, to cease some operations not over fraudulent behavior but for failing to properly regulate the fund’s investment’s activities.

“In light of the administrative action, we will strive to prevent any recurrence of similar issues and to restore any damage to investor confidence that may have occurred,” said Kuni.

For RBICO, the FSA said that it often recommended investments into companies on the verge of an initial public offering. Yet, the agency said, the companies were in fact not close to going public. Other investment transactions, according to the Nikkei Shimbun, were simply for the profit of various operations managed by RBICO’s president, Shigeki Iwahashi, who lives in Hong Kong.

An email sent to Iwahashi seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The Nikkei added that the FSA does not have the means to impose a ruling on RBICO given its designation as a business that caters to professional investors. Yet, reports public broadcaster NHK, Nagano investigators wish to contact Iwahashi about about his potentially fraudulent activities.